I fail at life: v1.0

So I’m already really shit at updating this (hands up if you saw that one coming a mile away) but as my blog has just been linked to on the Matador Network I am going to hurriedly update and absolutely WILL continue to do so at least three times a week! I swear.

My first month-and-a-half in Canterbury have gone quite differently than what I expected – this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I’m having the time of my life, but I’d planned on a lot more excursions into continental Europe, and as of right now, my tally is solidly at absolutely none. In fact, the farthest I’ve gone since my mini-adventures in Ireland and London upon arrival is twenty minutes down the road to Dover to watch a football match…so I didn’t even get to see any glorious white cliffs! So I’m doing quite badly at this whole nomadic lifestyle thing, but I plan on stepping up my game the second I actually find a job – and I will definitely be in Germany and hopefully Austria during the Christmas holidays!

In the meantime I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know Canterbury; I really enjoy walking into the city and just poking around (and this is not just because I’m too broke to either ride the bus or go shopping…only partly). As incredibly nerdy as this is, one of my favorite things to do is bring my sketchbook down to the Cathedral and find a good nook in the cloisters, in which I can sit and draw. Every once in a while even I, possibly the loudest, most obnoxious person ever, need some quiet time and I feel so lucky to have such a brilliant selection of beautiful places to which I can escape if need be.

Good & Evil: a major success!

Uni has been going really well too – I’ve managed to get away with doing almost all of my coursework in the wee hours of the morning whilst drunk and have still gotten really good marks – of course, if any of my professors ever read this, that wonderful scenario probably won’t continue, but I’ve enjoyed it so far! The majority of my non-academic time hasbeen devoted to rehearsing for the Musical Theatre Society’s showcase “Good ‘n’ Evil,” which wrapped up last night and was simply fabulous! We had a great cast; not only amazing singers and dancers but great people too; always a plus when you have to spend eight hours straight in each others company! Now that it’s over we’re all dealing with the inevitable come-down – I’ve never seen so many sappy Facebook comments in my life! With auditions for the spring-term musical just around the corner, though, we should all manage to pull through 🙂

Our showcase was (reasonably obviously) dedicated to songs highlighting the heroes and villains of Broadway, West End, and Disney fame, and featured such gems as ‘Be Prepared’ from the Lion King, ‘A Man’s Gotta Do’ from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and ‘For Good’ from Wicked. I was in the chorus for four songs – a new experience for me, but definitely a fun one! It was nice to have the pressure taken off a little bit by virtue of not being a soloist, but at the next round of auditions I plan to be healthy and actually able to sing! Our poor directors had to listen to me attempt to croak out some Les Mis at these auditions, as I struggled through week three or so of illness.

I’ve also been lucky enough to make the university equestrian team, and have been out to Trenley Park Livery weekly for practices. It’s not quite the same as having my wonderful Thoroughbred, Dante, here but I’m happy to feed my

Dante at the fall UMaine IDA competition, with an undisclosed rider from the University of New Hampshire in the irons.

addiction in any way possible! I’ve already managed to fall in love with a gorgeous chestnut Irish horse; he has a canter to die for. Again, nothing compared to the indomitable Dante but it’ll do! Meanwhile I’m attempting to find someone back in Maine to lease D-man, sort of unsuccessfully, but in the meantime he’s been used for an Intercollegiate Dressage Association show for the University of Maine, and my trainer, Bryn, was kind enough to send me a link to the pictures of the show…I really do have the most adorable horse in the world! It’s weird to think of other people riding and showing him, but I’m happy for any extra bit of love and attention that’s bestowed upon him at the moment; after all, he’s used to me spoiling him rotten and I’m sure he’s missing it!

And, of course, there’s NaNoWriMo! National Novel Writing Month (which is actually really international – there are regional groups just about everywhere) was a pretty spur-of-the-moment decision for me, but I enjoy a challenge and the unexpected friendships that form out of a semi-communal endeavor like this, so I decided to give it a shot. Being the big dork that I am, I’ve always nerded out spectacularly over the bohemians in Paris at the end of the 19th century, and in particular the Impressionists. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec is one of my favorites, and he led such a fascinating, sad life – the perfect fuel for a novel. So I’ve been sneaking off to the uni library at odd hours of the night to do research and bring home piles of books – and I think I must have drawn out about ten timelines and life-arcs now, trying to figure out where exactly to start this thing! In the meantime I’ve been writing random scenes as they come to me, or as I pick up on tidbits about his life. Here’s a fun fact: the lesbian prostitutes that he painted in the brothels of Paris used to call him the Coffee Pot, in reference to his overt sexuality – he was known to remark that he “may only be a small coffee pot, but I have a big spout!” Honestly, if that came from anyone other than a five-foot-tall Frenchman it would be repulsive but considering the source, it’s hilarious and may be the basis for several scenes in my story 😉 For those of you who are curious, here’s a little unedited and pretty poorly written sneak-peek of what’s to come…

Montmartre. Henri hesitated, stumbling slightly over his recalcitrant legs, and tried to make sense of this strange new world. It seemed to be made of something different than the rest of Paris; it was as though it had been painted in thick, undiluted oils while the rest of the world was merely a wash of watercolors, transparent to the paper beneath. He saw people, new people, different people, people who seemed somehow like him: people bursting with ideas, wonderful ideas and crippling frustration. Red-lipped girls with dark-ringed eyes eyed him shamelessly, letting their eyes linger on his misshapen legs and then ease back up to meet his gaze. These girls were not like the society ladies who, in vain attempts at subtlety, would steal curious glances and then look away, whispering to their equally highly-strung friends and all the while understanding nothing. These girls were not afraid to cast their calculating eyes upon Henri, and he felt that somehow they could see right through him, right past the deformities to the tangle of color and emotion and longing within him.

Actually, re-reading that now, it’s horribly trite, so please don’t judge the future final product too much! Anyway, I’m managing to rack up the words on this blog post far more quickly than on my ‘novel,’  so perhaps it’s time to wrap this up and attempt some amount of productivity. And, again, I promise…regular blog posts! They will happen!

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